It’s official. The first day of classes of my senior year is over. I am one step closer to graduating.

Watching students scurry along the sidewalks going in and out of buildings was strangely comforting. Everyone making a point to turn up on time in class or even attend class for that matter. Maybe because I was in CU for the summer taking summer classes and there was hardly a soul around. This was indeed the start of a new semester.

It was amazing to see Green St. so populated when a few weeks ago it wasn’t like that. Don’t even get me started on the bookstores. The queues were so long that sales staff had to hold up signs so that people knew where the queue even ended. And poor ol’ me wanted to buy just one textbook. Had the sales staff not been that efficient and well-trained in their cashiering job such that the queue kept moving, I would have given up and resigned to spending a few more dollars ordering it from Amazon (like I did with my other textbooks).

My classes were…well, not too bad. Cheers to a new semester!

If there’s one day I’ll miss the most when I graduate, that would have to be Quad Day. Since my Freshman year, I’ve never failed to attend Quad Day. I love the atmosphere even if it’s a hot day with thousands of students jam-packed on the Quad. Never loved crowds, but there’s something different about Quad Day. The energy from 500+ student organizations vying for your attention is amazing, not to mention the freebies. Got to admit it, I’m a freebie monster.

So what goodies did I get this year? An iBook, a planner, 4 cups, 2 pens, a packet of band-aids, a brush, a slap-on wristband, a packet of bronzer, a couple of candies, and a stack of flyers. Less than what I got in the previous years, but hey, I had a more important job this year — promoting the217.com’s calendar. The funniest thing? I stopped by a booth promoting their tanning services to get a cup (with some flyers and the packet of bronzer stuffed in it). The enthusiastic girl at the booth asked if I was interested in tanning. I almost laughed out loud because I am already tanned. Naturally. Thanks to the hot summer days.

Oh, in case you were wondering what I answered, I said no but asked if I could take a cup. Can’t be helped. I AM a freebie monster.

No, I have not dropped off the face of the Earth. After the last blog post, I was preparing for the final exams of my summer courses and then it was off on a road trip. I must say that after a week and a half’s worth of zipping in and out of towns and being on the road for 80% of the time, not to mention almost getting stuck on top of a mountain with no cellphone reception and hardly anyone else around, nothing feels like coming home to good ol’ CU.

Even after arriving back to CU, it has been a flurry of events. Catching up with work and activities, deciding that my apartment needed a good spring-cleaning, meeting my mentees, buying textbooks, selling textbooks, getting excited about Quad Day etc. Best of all, getting prepared for my final year in UIUC and CU.

Senior year. Oh, how time has passed in a twinkle of an eye. 3 years ago, I arrived in CU feeling lost and alone. I earned my first B- in an assignment in my first semester and broke down. It was horrible, I wanted a shoulder to lean on, but there was no one. I wanted to call my good friend back in Singapore, but due to the time difference, she would be sleeping. In 3 years, I have learned to be more independent and rely on internal strength to pull myself through. I have made friends who share my thoughts and opinions in many issues. In short, I am no longer the feeling-out-of-place-and-overwhelmed Freshman I was before.

Come Monday I will take the first step on the final stretch of my journey as an Undergrad. Senior year, here I come!

Saw a double rainbow while I was out jogging this evening. Do I feel lucky? No, I don’t think so. At least, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the sight like this guy…

Haha…he sounds like he’s having an orgasm just seeing a double rainbow.

And if you can’t get enough of double rainbows, you can sing the “Double Rainbow Song.” Fabulous!

Well, I didn’t get a picture of the double rainbow in CU because I didn’t have my phone with me, but here’s a picture of a rainbow I took in my old apartment in Singapore.

Was reading the article in the Daily Illini about Lincoln Hall. It ended with a quote:

“Everybody’s got a memory of something,” Dow’s husband Benny added.

My memories of Lincoln Hall:

• Using the hallway for J-Net Fashion Show practice
• ADV300 in the theater

Unfortunately, I will not be able to enter the newly-renovated Lincoln Hall as I’ll be graduating in 2011. Ah well…

What are your memories of Lincoln Hall?

While CU has been dealing with heat, Singapore has been dealing with storms and floods. Since Singapore is a tropical country, we are all too familiar with storms and rain. While we do not experience natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes, we do get rain most of the time. Heck, the weather forecast for our country is always the same, it’s pretty boring. Always around the same temperatures with scattered showers.

However, the recent storms have been pretty intense with heavy rain going on for hours resulting in floods. For the first time, our famous shopping district got flooded. I’ve seen the pictures and trust me, it looked bad. Then came the news from various friends that some residential areas got flooded too. This is the time when the people living in high-rise apartments (we have a lot of that) thank their lucky stars because some of those living in houses woke up in the morning to a flooded frontyard.

Here are some pictures from my friend, Wen Ling, of her neighborhood and frontyard:

If you’re wondering whether this is normal after a storm, no it’s not.

Gosh, and here I am praying for rain in CU.

What is this heat? It’s too hot! Yes, I come from a tropical country and it is summer all-year-round. Yes, I am used to the feeling of perspiration forming just two minutes after stepping out of the house. But this? I never knew summer in CU is THAT hot.

Every day, I’m just hoping that it will rain. It’s not that I love rain (in fact, I hate it), but if rain means it will bring the temperature down, I’m all for it. Being the poor student I am, I avoid turning on the air-conditioner. When it rains, I put a fan at the window to blow in the cool air. Viola! Natural air-conditioner.

Another issue regarding the heat: getting tanned. I don’t mind getting a little tanned, but this is too much. After spending the 4th of July in Chicago, while most of my friends got sun burnt, I just got tanned. Two days later, I discovered I had gotten a whole lot more tanned. How did I figure that out? Tan lines on my feet from wearing flip-flops. Mind you, I wasn’t wearing flip-flops in Chicago, so it was obvious that I got even more tanned in CU.

Ok, I guess I should be happy that I get tanned instead of sun burnt, since that means I have lower risk of getting skin cancer. While my Caucasian friends are trying to get a tan, I’m complaining that I don’t want to get tanned. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. It’s amazing how cultures can be so different. In the Asian culture, girls value fairness. That explains the many whitening products available at the cosmetics counter. While girls here wish to get tanned.

However, a word of caution. If you get sun burnt easily, it’s time to use sunscreen lotion and protect yourself from the sun. I don’t understand this. I’ve seen so many women with badly sun burnt shoulders, but they still parade around in bikinis and lie under the sun trying to get a tan. What? Are you waiting to get skin cancer? Get the thought of getting tanned out of your head already and protect yourself.

Social influence and conformity was the topic of my Social Psychology class today. Fashion and conformity kind of goes together. I’m not sure about the rest of U.S, but there is one fashion trend that is evident in CU — rain boots.

No doubt that rain boots are above just being a fashion statement and people use them for a reason, I can’t help but feel that most are just getting them to show off their identity. Even one of my professors had commented that he could not understand why girls wore rain boots as part of fashion.

I knew about rain boots when I was just a kid. I never really liked them because I didn’t want to look like a fish monger. That was a stupid and naive reason, but it was true that fish mongers wore PVC boots that looked very much like rain boots. Now, I beg to differ. Oh, the colors and patterns! Anyone can find a pair to suit their identity. Alright I admit, I have been sucked into this fashion trend too. So, what pattern have I chosen?

Yup, a pair of Chooka Hello Kitty Pink Punk rain boots. I bet they’ll come in handy when I return home since Singapore is a tropical country which rains often.

What are yours?

Happy Birthday USA! It’s my first time celebrating the 4th of July. For the past 2 years, I’ve been going home during the summer. This year, I’m spending summer here.

My friends and I drove to Chicago to enjoy the fireworks at Navy Pier. Thinking that there was no need to wait around Navy Pier for a few hours, we decided to spend the afternoon walking around and enjoying the sights of Chicago. By the time we decided to walk to the pier, there were too many people at the pier and the security guards did not allow us to join the crowd as it would become a fire hazard. So, we decided to catch the fireworks under the bridge on the opposite side. It wasn’t the best venue, but the show was spectacular nonetheless.

Are there only fireworks shows during 4th of July? How about parades? On National Day in Singapore, there is a parade with a pre-parade segment that showcases the nation’s armed forces and uniformed groups and a main parade segment with costumes and national songs. It ends with everyone singing the national song and reciting the pledge and of course, fireworks.

Do you know that by the age of 4 to 5, children learn about prejudice and by adolescence, these prejudices are hard to change? I learned these facts in my Social Psychology class. What struck me most was the video we watched about a third-grade teacher’s experiment and lesson she taught about prejudice. She watched as the innocent third-graders became mean, discriminating devils. Even when the kids grew up and met again at a reunion, they never forgot the lesson they learned about prejudice. I shall not go into a long discussion of the video, but if you’re interested in checking the video out, it’s called “A Class Divided.”

Before coming to USA, I was a little worried about issues of racism as CU is an area which is dominantly White. I definitely fell under the minority in terms of ethnicity. My family had gone through an incident in Australia where some racist dudes gave us the middle-finger treatment when they drove past. That incident was enough to make me think that when you’re in the minority group, you are seriously outnumbered and there’s no saying how the majority will treat you.

Life in USA was going to be different from Singapore. In Singapore, the Government and schools stress racial harmony. We even have a special day called “Racial Harmony Day” which is celebrated by elementary and junior high school students. On that day, we are allowed to dress in ethnic costumes rather than the usual school uniform.

I discovered that all that excessive worrying was for nothing. True, prejudice and racism is real in USA, but UIUC focuses on tolerance and diversity. CU in general is a safe place for people of different races and ethnicities to come and work together.

It’s strange how people focus so much on what’s external than what’s internal. I’m just glad that I’ve friends of different races and ethnicities. So what if they aren’t of the same skin color? What matters is that they have loving heart – one that is willing to care and share.